Terrapin Beer Homepage

According to their new web site, “Terrapin Beer Company was founded by two brewers who share a commitment to creating world class beers unsurpassed in character and flavor.” In just a few short years, they have made a reputation for themselves as one of the finest crafted brews in the country.

The company was started by two local entrepreneurs who took the risk to make a career out of their passion; their story is not unlike that of Plexus Web Creations. Their similar backgrounds, as well as a chance meeting at last year’s Twilight led Terrapin into a new realm on the web.

“As a young and growing company, we felt our web site needed to grow with us,” explains John Cochran, co-founder and president of Terrapin. “We have a unique brand and we needed a web site that reflected us as a company. We believed that it was imperative that the people who built our web site ‘bought-in’ to the Terrapin idea and captured that on the web.”

“The Terrapin site was so much fun to do,” says Stephanie Sharp, president of Plexus. “We were all already fans of the beer, and after meeting Spike and John, we couldn’t wait to begin on the project. The finished product is one of my favorite sites we’ve ever built.”

As they have done with many of their clients, Plexus made sure that Terrapin could afford a high quality web site by trading services, explains Sharp. “We have clients come in all the time that have services we use as well. If possible, we trade services with them to help cover some of the costs incurred in the creation of the site. With Terrapin, we traded out beer as payment for a portion of the site.”

The site features many tools that will allow the staff at Terrapin to make updates without the assistance of web designers. These include a press release database and events database, which are vitally important for a business with so many events and promotions. As with all Plexus designs, the site was built with the most current web standards, ensuring that is viewable in all browsers on all platforms. Also, standards compliant design means that Terrapin will not have to start from scratch in a few years when they want to update the design. By separating design from content, they will be able to import a new look over existing content, ensuring a fresh and current site for years to come.

One of the main elements that Terrapin wanted in their new site was the ability to sell merchandise. For this, Plexus set up a merchandise account utilizing PayPal, the leading online payment processor. PayPal allows businesses to accept secure credit card payments online, without the businesses needing to establish accounts with their bank or credit provider. It streamlines the payment process and cuts the costs that vendors typically have to pay the credit card companies.

Other features of the site are interactive flash animation, highlighting the unique characters that make up the Terrapin brand. Another unique component on the site is the use of Scalable Inman Flash Replacement, or sIFR. This technology allows designers to replace text elements on screen with Flash equivalents, which is way to use custom typography without the penalty of images that can make the site cumbersome.

“We absolutely love what Plexus did for us,” says Cochran. “They really captured who we are as a company and gave us a great outlet to communicate with our customers.”

The partnership was beneficial for both Terrapin and Plexus, according to Sharp. “The guys at Terrapin were great to work with, and we all love the free beer.”